McDonald’s Canada testing a vegetable-based burger — again

Article content

BRAMPTON, ONT. — McDonald’s Canada is trying its hand at a vegetable-based burger — again.

Article content

Article content

Article content

The fast-food chain announced Tuesday that it will test its new McVeggie at some restaurants in Langley, Richmond and Surrey, B.C., as well as Brampton and Windsor, Ont., and Dieppe, Moncton, Riverview and Sussex, N.S., until April 14.

The sandwich, which will come in regular and spicy habanero varieties, has a breaded patty made of carrots, green beans, zucchini, peas, soybeans, broccoli and corn. It comes on a toasted sesame bun and is topped with shredded lettuce and sauce.

The dish is the latest attempt by McDonald’s Canada at courting customers uninterested in or unable to consume popular staples like the Big Mac.

Prior attempts to cater to vegetarians have not succeeded, leaving the sandwich portion of the company’s menu full of beef and poultry options but little for those who don’t eat meat.

Article content

Article content

The chain’s most recent menu item prior to the McVeggie was the plant, lettuce and tomato or PLT.

The sandwich made with a plant-based Beyond Meat patty was tested in September 2019 at 28 restaurants, predominantly in London, Ont. It later expanded to 52 locations covering neighbouring Kitchener-Waterloo and Guelph in a 12-week trial beginning in January 2020.

“That wasn’t quite what consumers are looking for,” chief marketing officer Francesca Cardarelli conceded while sitting at a McDonald’s restaurant in Brampton, Ont.

She figures part of why the PLT missed the mark was because its patty was designed to mimic meat as most of the hot plant-based meat alternatives did about six years ago.

At the time, a Nielsen study revealed that 43 per cent of Canadian consumers expected to increase plant-based food consumption, and in the two years prior, had bought four per cent less meat.

Article content

Buoyed by these reports and others suggesting the plant-based “meat” market would be valued at US$135 billion by 2035, fast-food joints such as Tim Hortons and McDonald’s rushed to offer such products. However, diners didn’t take to them and they were eventually pulled from menus because of a lack of demand.

The McVeggie attempts to learn from all that.

“This is just something that’s more craveable and more desirable,” said Cardarelli, who said she eats two a week.

Whether someone has dietary restrictions or is seeking variety, she thinks the dish’s appeal is obvious as soon as one takes a bite out of the sandwich and spots the melange of chunky greenery that forms the patty.

“You can really see the vegetable component in it, which I think adds a bit of a vibrancy and uniqueness from what we’ve tested in the past,” she said. “This is what they’re looking for now.”

Article content

Testing that theory will be the culmination of months of product development, studying PLT feedback and looking at vegetable-based products McDonald’s trialed elsewhere.

India, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand have also sold sandwiches called the McVeggie at times, but they’re not the same as McDonald’s Canada’s offering, which was developed for this country specifically.

The sandwich, however, is not completely made with Canadian ingredients because Cardarelli said the country’s climate makes it “quite difficult” to source domestic produce year-round. The company would not name what countries other than Canada it will get vegetables from.

The pressure to ensure the McVeggie is a hit is high, not just because of the past failures but because McDonald’s stands to win over even more customers who might have eaten elsewhere because of a lack of plant-based options.

Article content

Its research shows about 35 per cent of Canadians have some sort of food limitation, whether it’s an allergy or a personal preference, and about half of the time that one-third determines where the group they’re dining with go to eat.

McDonald’s will watch whether the McVeggie shifts this trend and analyze how often people come in for the sandwich, what they’re ordering with it and whether it fits into their routines.

“I’m hopeful they will feel the excitement and then gravitate toward a product like this,” Cardarelli said.

“Ultimately, it’s going to be their voice that helps us determine whether this stands to something bigger or not.”

Article content